AMERICANS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY IN THE KOREAN WAR: STORIES OF THOSE WHO SERVED
AMERICANS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY IN THE KOREAN WAR: STORIES OF THOSE WHO SERVED
By Robert M. Wada (Orange, Calif.: The Paragon Agency, Publishers,
2010, 290 pp., $20, paperback)
As the nation belatedly recognized Nisei members of 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service with the Congressional Gold Medal in November of 2011 in Washington, D.C., the Japanese Americans in the Korean War Inc. produced this volume to fulfill their motto: “To Forget Would Be A Dishonor, To Remember Will Be Everlasting.”
By the time the Korean War began, the military was no longer segregated and the Nisei served in all branches of the military. Their actions and exploits became “individual” acts, rather than those of a segregated unit or an ethnic group.
While it is difficult to arrive at an exact number of Japanese Americans who served during the Korean War, it is estimated that more than 5,600 Japanese Americans served with about 256 (so far) who paid the supreme sacrifice with their lives.
This publication is a poignant reminder of the costs and sacrifices made by Japanese Americans who fought in the Korean War. This volume lists many with photographs, those who gave their lives during the Korean War. But equally important and memorable are the stories of some 78 Nisei who took part in various aspects of the Korean War.
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